Usually we just report the news here at GateWorld, but every now and again I feel it necessary to abuse my privilege as chief and editorialize a bit. This is one of those posts. Please just take it, for what it’s worth, as one science fiction fan’s opinion.
AN OPEN LETTER TO SYFY CHANNEL:
Thank you for the many years of outstanding entertainment you have given to me and my friends. While I haven’t agreed with every creative or scheduling decision, every killed-off character or series cancellation, I do recognize that because of Syfy Channel I have laughed, cried, and cheered over the likes of Farscape, Stargate, Sanctuary, Battlestar Galactica, and so many others.
Since you ventured into original, scripted drama more than a decade ago, you’ve been one of the best places on television for the genre that I love so much. And you’ve been one of the safest. The big networks put the pressure on shows and cancel them after a season or less, sometimes not even airing all the episodes they paid to have filmed. Firefly. Defying Gravity. The Event. No Ordinary Family. Moonlight. Earth 2. Surface. Invasion. Threshold. But you give new series time to find their audience. You’ve rescued shows from cancellation oblivion, you’ve aired those unaired episodes, and you’ve funded additional seasons when it looked like shows like Sliders and Stargate SG-1 were done.
Lately, however, your actions have started to concern me. Consider this an intervention on the part of those who love you. While your ratings are high and things seem like they are going great, you are on a self-destructive path. And it doesn’t just hurt you. It doesn’t just hurt those who fall in love with your outstanding scripted dramas. It’s hurting the science fiction genre.
I understand that reality programming is here to stay. Because it’s less expensive to produce and typically gets as-good or better ratings than scripted fare, reality TV has become a building block for the television landscape in the twenty-first century. Hopefully that will come with some balance — something scripted, something unscripted, and viewers will choose what they like. Face Off and Ghost Hunters are cool ideas. But please, do not forsake scripted drama because it doesn’t have as high a cost-benefit ratio.
I think you know this, and it’s not why I am writing today. I’m writing to talk about professional wrestling. Your mother and I are very concerned about the kids you have been hanging out with. I recognize that WWE Smackdown is the cool kid: he gets double the ratings of nearly any other show on the network, which is a huge boon to your ratings averages and, ultimately, to your profitability. Money earned from wrestling can then be invested in making shows that don’t rate as highly. Like the Republicans say, the ratings “wealthy” can create jobs for the “middle class” of TV shows. It’s not a terrible idea, even if I don’t think that wrestling fits with your network brand.
By changing your name from “SCI FI” to “Syfy” it became clear that you don’t want to program for the niche of science fiction fans any more — you want broader appeal. You want to be popular. If NCIS repeats became available and you could afford them, you’d snap them up and tell viewers to “imagine greater.”
Those of us who are first fans of the science fiction genre can see the writing on the wall. When it comes to mass appeal, sci-fi is always at a disadvantage. Good science fiction television needs to be nurtured, given space and time to grow. But it will never be hugely popular. And you don’t seem to be as interested in nurturing these days.
Now don’t get me wrong — I’m not writing you off. A two-year commitment to an expensive show like SGU was terrific, and Caprica‘s ratings were pretty bad. I’m not even saying that expanding to new nights of the week has been a bad idea. I recognize the business strategy at work in your scheduling choices, and I see where it has paid off. But the last seven months have told a powerful story to the programming department, and today you have to own up to your mistakes. Let’s review the course of events that brought us here:
- You acquired WWE Smackdown, and decided to keep it on Friday nights — where its own fan base expects it. Since it is a 2-hour block, the fall of 2010 seemed like the best time to branch into another night using those shows that were previously on Fridays.
- So you planned to move Stargate Universe and Sanctuary to Tuesdays, where your other dramas have had great success during the (less competitive) summer months. (With Warehouse 13 overlapping one week into the start of the fall season on the big networks, maybe you could hold on to some of those summer viewers and keep them on Syfy on Tuesdays.)
- Caprica still needed an immediate renewal decision, however, so at the eleventh hour you put it in Sanctuary‘s place and kept Sanctuary on Fridays, after wrestling, in the one primetime hour still available there.
- Tuesday nights during the fall season are incredibly tough. Caprica sank below 1 million viewers and didn’t survive a month. Stargate, meanwhile, flirted with disaster in its own ratings, hovering just inches above the 1 million viewer threshold.
- Stargate finished out its fall run, but compared to its (falling) numbers on Friday last spring, things weren’t looking so good. You cancelled it in December.
- In January you were ready to premiere a new scripted series, a remake of BBC’s Being Human. The show started strong and did very respectable numbers on Monday nights. You renewed it and called it a win. When Stargate returned for its final episodes, you moved it to Monday, too. But it was a dead man walking, so no one expected a ratings resurrection.
- Sanctuary, meanwhile, was still on Friday nights — and now it had WWE as a monster lead-in. You know lead-ins matter. You know that Fridays at 10 p.m. is now the plum time slot on your network. You wish that the show you put there would retain a bit more of WWE‘s 2.5 to 3 million viewers, but Sanctuary was clearly doing well enough for a fourth season renewal.
-
When April arrived, things got truly telling. Sanctuary started its spring season with surprisingly low numbers, considering it is a mid-season premiere and it has a 2.8 million viewer lead-in. Meanwhile, your new Monday reality series Urban Legends premiered after Stargate on Monday, and couldn’t keep even half of SGU‘s already dismal viewership. Sanctuary and Stargate have always had a similar audience, and Urban Legends could really benefit from that post-WWE time slot — so you did the logical thing and quickly switch them.
- Now on Mondays at 10 p.m., Sanctuary is pulling in lower ratings than the already cancelled Stargate Universe.
What lessons is a programming executive to learn from this? Putting original (and expensive), scripted dramas on Tuesday nights during the fall season was a disaster. Sanctuary is a good show, and it didn’t lose 40 percent of its audience because people decided to tune out. It lost that audience because people expected to watch it on Friday night, where it’s always been and where science fiction has thrived on many networks. And because it had a monster lead-in there.
Now I understand that there are only three primetime hours per night, and you have a lot of good shows. It helps the network tremendously to air original series on other nights of the week. One million for a new original is better than 300,000 viewers from a repeat of Hercules. But you must realize that the ratings for those shows will be proportionately lower than they were on Friday nights — about 40 percent, apparently. Competing with the big networks on their big nights is still tough.
In short, cancelling SGU and Caprica because they couldn’t perform on Tuesdays was a mistake. You should own up to it. You should admit that those shows would have performed much better (about 40 percent, apparently) on Fridays, and it’s your fault that they didn’t have the chance. They may well have earned enough viewers to warrant renewal. But you decided not to nurture them, to give them the space and time they needed to solidify themselves creatively and in their audience.
You know that Stargate Universe is better now than it has ever been, and is even starting to win over some of the naysayers. But you cut it off at the knees, mid-story, without so much as a shortened season or mini-series to tie up this epic story in which you convinced us to involve ourselves.
Why? What was that one critical factor that brought an end to a 14-year franchise that made you a Top 10 cable network, that could have been your everlasting Law & Order or CSI?
Because wrestling has to air on Friday nights.
WWE Smackdown is your highest-rated show, far and away. The fact that it is so highly rated — that no other show you make, scripted or unscripted, comes anywhere close — should tell you something. I’d like to tell you it’s because it doesn’t belong on your network, but I’m resigned to the fact that it is a breadwinner. But it is destroying good science fiction. If you move it off of Friday nights, most of its loyal and ridiculously large audience will follow. WWE does monster numbers for USA Network on Mondays. Wrestling fans will watch Smackdown instead of NCIS on Tuesdays, because they are already in the habit of not making good life choices. Then your ratings still have the wrestling boost, but you’re back to having three hours of primetime real estate to nurture scripted drama.
Think of it this way: If your best friend moves out to the sticks, he’ll have a hard time convincing you to come and visit as often. But if you build a 50,000-seat sports arena in the sticks, fans will carpool and rent buses to get out there.
If you had renewed Stargate and demonstrated that your expectations for Tuesdays in the fall are proportionately lower (about 40 percent lower, apparently), we wouldn’t be having this conversation. For the show’s creative growth, ultimately I don’t care how many people are watching it. But to cancel one series and renew another, when the only ratings difference between the two was the night of the week you aired them, was incredibly short-sighted.
You’ve done great with Friday nights in the past, and you are doing great with Tuesdays in the summertime. I think switching your summer dramas to Mondays will be an even greater success. I’m even happy with your foray into Mondays this winter and spring, even though it has been tougher-going. (I wonder if you had tried Mondays instead of Tuesdays back in October, if SGU might still be with us.)
But wrestling doesn’t belong on Fridays. Your own ratings data shows that the scripted dramas you put there will thrive for years, and those that don’t get the coveted Friday hour — well, they get killed. Not because of the show. Because none but the most loyalist follower want to watch an intense, thought-provoking science fiction drama at 10 o’clock on a Tuesday.
Syfy, move WWE Smackdown off of Friday nights. It does great there, and it will do great elsewhere. It will make your Tuesdays or your Thursdays amazing. But, more importantly, it will free up the Friday schedule to allow you to support scripted drama again. Then all of your shows will thrive, and your ratings averages and your bottom line will shine even brighter. As the schedule stands, wrestling isn’t complimenting your scripted science fiction — it is destroying it.
These shows deserve it, and your viewers who watch you because they love science fiction deserve it. Without it, you aren’t going to be a haven for science fiction any more. You’ll just be like everyone else.
I think i speak for SGU and science fiction fans when I say thank you Darren well said!!!
I think you should have a link to Save SGU on the site.
Now did you send this to Syfy? I’ve also read an article about a month or two ago and they pretty much said the same kind of stuff you were talking about. The head over at Syfy has complete disdain for the actual Sci-Fi drama and is slowly but surely trying to do what he/she can to kill it and it all makes sense with what we see happening over there. Its sad. Reality TV is a joke. Its so annoying seeing a show on TV that is a clear case of “everyone and their mom can get a reality… Read more »
the most clever, and balanced comments, that i had ever read about the science fiction gendere and its relation to scifi (SyFy) Network, i readed and its compells me to register to comment, and i think its, alot considering that when that network start, i was just on the verge of wainting it to get latinamerica, but since SG-1 , cancelation, that i did understand but get me angry any way, you know 10 years, 2 season with a diferent lead character, that in my opnion was brilliant all things considered (richard dean anderson shoes), then Movies, and Atlantis cancellation,… Read more »
I didn’t think lead-ins mattered. I guess I overestimated the average american viewer, I won’t do so again.
Thank you Darren. You have described everything I have felt ever since SGU got moved to Tuesdays. I knew then it wouldn’t be long before it was cancelled. Now with the move for Sancuary. I don’t see them keeping it past the next season (thankfully they renewed it before the Tuesday move). SyFy has almost completely lost me as a viewer. The only shows I’ll be watching after SGU is finished is Sanctuary and Eureka. When they are done, so will I be. They have forgotten who was the reason the station was created for in the first place. Maybe… Read more »
This is the absolute truth, well said.
Thankfully the current owners of SyFy aren’t the former execs of FOX, who happened to cancel so many other great sci-fi series(X-Files, Firefly, etc.), so they’ll read this and come to their senses.
Oh… wait… NEVERMIND.
Sigh… Keep fighting the good fight, Darren. Those of us without as loud of a voice are with you.
I have no need to say anymroe, everything has been said. I just want to say…On behalf of not only Stargate fans, but fans of Science Fiction itself….Thank you Darren. Thank you.
Here Here! Well said Darren, I couldn’t agree more! I have long lammented the loss of the glory days on “Sci-Fi Fridays”. Lets hope the powers that be at SYFY hear you and right there ship before the loose all of their loyal veiwers. Though with Stargate gone, I’m not sure that is even possible anymore. For me the only shows they have I’m even interested in anymore are Sanctuary and Battlestar Blood and Chrome.
Amen
I don’t think Smackdown can be moved due to the WWE requires it to stay where it is, which lends credence to WHY THE HELL IS SMACKDOWN ON SYFY. The SciFi channel is DEAD and that’s why Stargate is going to die next week. I realized when they changed their name to Syfy Science fiction wouldn’t have a home anymore. Hell I can get better Science Fiction from Chiller. It’s over folks. They screwed us on Stargate and eventually Syfy will flirt with an all unscripted tv weekly schedule. Eventually Being Human and all those other new shows will get… Read more »
I love it, it’s exactly what I was thinking. Syfy didn’t even give SGU a chance to rebound on a better night. For a franchise that has been going strong for 14 years, SGU deserved the chance to go back to Friday’s, even if Syfy would only take one show to follow wrestling. Now, it’s even sadder that SGU is being cancelled, given the awesome episodes that were being aired. This is something that I really wanted to see play out in a third season, but it looks like I won’t ever get that chance, until SGU gets picked up… Read more »
We have nobody to blame but ourselves for not being 10 million people. I did my part by being 10 people, but the rest of you just weren’t even trying.
Well said Darren. However I would have been more blunt about. III guess some of us can be diplomatic and other prefer blunt. I have to agree with saxgod though. Science Fiction is dead of Syfy. I already miss the glory days of SG-1, Atlantis Battlestar Galactica. That was when Sci-Fi existed and they lived up to their name. I understand the idea behind ratings and I understand the need for them. However you can not put a great show like SGU against the likes of Castle (an other great show BTW) and other heavy ratings pullers. Its suicide. I… Read more »
I actually just sent a link to this article along with some personal opinions to SyFy through their feedback email. I would love to have an email address for somebody on the top though so I can make sure they get it.
Darren, do you think SGU was getting enough viewers to continue, even when it was on Fridays? I don’t think it was. I agree that if there had been a Sci Fi Friday type of thing where SGA continued/SGU/Sanctuary all aired together, SGU would have fared better. It would have given it more time to find itself, as evidently these seson 2 episodes are much better than the season 1 ones were. But hanging out there, all by itself and not capturing the audiences imagination in that first year was it’s downfall. Since it was the only SG on it… Read more »
A well thought out article. It was a pleasure to read and even better: it is true!
Long live SciFi!
Thanks, Darren, for putting into words what so many of us are thinking. The alarm bells started going off when the name changed to SyFy and have grown louder ever since. If it weren’t for Eureka and Sanctuary, I would never watch the channel at all, and I fear for them too. That being said, the viewers who are out there not making the good life choices seem to be driving the bus right now..
Sylvia, it’s tough to compare the pre-wrestling world on Syfy with the post-wrestling world. Before WWE, SGU was doing “OK” on Friday nights, but not great. As the article says, its ratings were falling. I’d ascribe various factors to that, including periods where it was airing all by itself with no companion drama. And yes, I think the show itself (namely the pace of Season One, especially the first half) bears a lot of the blame. Who knows where the ratings for SGU would have ended up if it had stayed on Fridays. I’d bet good money that, if it… Read more »
Didn’t SciFi have wrestling on Tuesdays for several years anyway? Guess they wanted the Friday one instead?
@Darren, I suppose the producers of shows will have to learn to make cheaper series than SGU, in order for Syfy to be happy with lower ratings.
But would we want to see Stargate made on the cheap? I’m not sure how they could do it. It is why there are so many crappy reality shows. A drama that generates profit with one million people watching would, necessarily be low on SFX, name actors and set locations. Someone who could produce a cost-effective scripted sci-fi show that was good would have my undying gratitude!
Well said, Darren, but I believe it’s falling on deaf ears as far as SyFy’s concerned. It’s terrible not only for the existence of scripted science fiction but for the little brains out there, starved for a weekly dose of powerful what-if’s and could-be’s. It’s those brains we lose. Wrestling never sent anyone into space, no matter how hard they throw.
Awesome Darren!! Well Said!
AMEN DARREN!!!! We ALL should push for this!! How can this end now with NOTHING for a resolution!? Give us SOMETHING, my gosh!
Also, remember Tremors, the Series!!!
I really enjoyed that show, even though they went off the beaten path sometimes. I was so hoping they’d bring back some movie actors for cameo’s. I miss that series too!!
I normally just read the posts here but I had to register just to say that this one is barking right up the exact same tree that I have been ever since it was cancelled. Sci Fi has gotten into a routine of murdering its originals in favor of garbage like wrestling (which has nothing to do with Sci Fi!). Despite that, it would thrive on any night; it doesn’t matter. Why SciFi can’t figure that out is beyond me. SGU was one of the most thought provoking of the series. It used real life theory and spun it in… Read more »
THANK YOU DARREN!!! Thank you for saying what I am sure many people have been saying every since wrestling showed up on SciFi or SyFy. Thank you!
You, my boy, Darren are 100% correct with your statement. It doesn’t belong with SyFy. How i would like for Canada’s Space to be available worldwide.
its obvious.
they changed their name to get OUT of sci-fi.
they want be just another network and air whatever makes them money. we were asked to ‘Imagine Greater’. …apparently Wrestling is greater.
Nicely said, but I highly doubt anyone from SyFy will read it, or actually take something from it. It’s a shame that we lost Stargate because of their idiotism, and it’s a shame we will lose Sanctuary because of the exact same reason. Unfortunately, this obviously is the path they’ve taken, I don’t think there will be any changes. Oh, and Farscape was cancelled too in case you already forgot… just saying. What I don’t understand, though, is why didn’t MGM try to make a deal with Canadian SPACE and British Sky One together? Why does it have to be… Read more »
Completely agree with this article. The sad part is, there will be nothing worth watching on TV at a normal hour after next week. It’s a sad day in the Stargate world… :(
Well said Darren!! And THANK YOU. Unfortunately,as someone said it IS falling on deaf ears and why?Because the contents of heads those ears are on are empty.As you said,they ARE hurting themselves in the longterm by insisting on this self-destructive path.Smart business decision making on part of a former SciFi would be able to keep it’s original audience and then expand it some more for the sake of a $$.That would benefit all.As it turns out smart is too much to ask,just as is fair and loyal,or respect toward it’s long term viewers etc. And although I don’t think all… Read more »
So Say We All!
If they return to what made them great, I will happily return my viewership to those programs that brought me to them in the first place, and that they haven’t cancelled yet (not to mention some of the new ones that looking interesting).
There is a reason I tend to avoid investing my time in shows on network television, and Darren articulates it pretty well in his opening paragraphs.
While all this is true, @dr_pants is right. All the “die-hard” Stargate and BSG fans who shunned SGU and Caprica are a huge part of the problem.
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Hi everybody!!! I am from Bulgaria, Europe!!! I m glad finally to be a part from GATEWORLD family!!! In my country Wrestling is wathing from the people between 8 and 20/max/ years old, ad it s airing sat and sun days on a comedy channel in 11.00 and 12.00pm!!! I think it s a biiiiggg shame Sy Fy to airing it esspeccialy in prime time! For shows like a Face off and Ghost…. even not to speak!! In our sy fy channel airing only science fiction no programs for CARTOONNETWORK :-O!!! Even i ve never ssn the program of SY… Read more »
Wow, Darren. You put into words all that I feel. It sounds silly to my friends, but I mourn the end of this great franchise. I am truly saddened by the poor choices made by Syfy. Like many great scifi fans, I have kids and I have a demanding job. Tuning in during the week is so difficult if not impossible. Forget competition from the networks. Nothing on TV can compete with my son’s sports or the many other activities pre-scheduled on weeknights. TV will lose every time. I always catch up on my DVR but it’s not always the… Read more »
So Say We All!
I am so ticked beyond words that they pulled SGU. It was there. I loved my Friday nights with SG1. Sam says something smart, Daniel gets in a bind, Jack says something witty, Tel’c raises an eyebrow. But SGU was an actual drama with VERY diverse characters and plots and they just killed it. Last weeks episode where it showed the “alternate them’s” development was brilliant.
Friday night is what built that network and they are alienating the people that supported them. Well written article!
We should all BOYCOTT Syfy For cancelling SGU!!!They shall fall like they made SGU fall!!!
Who’s with me?! RENEW SGU OR YOU WILL FACE THE SAME FAITH SYFY.
As someone who was an avid follower of the WWF/WWE, I know that Smackdown is taped, whereas Raw is a live show. Since Smackdown is typically taped on a Tuesday, they would have no issue moving the show back to Thursday night, where it was for its first 6 years. I believe the move to Friday was originally a way to boost ratings for them when they were experiencing a slump, but as noted in the article, I’m confident that the fans would follow the switch. SGU is a lost cause at this point, and there’s no bringing it back,… Read more »
Darren, VERY well written and professionally backed up with their own numbers… I love the old Scifi channel and am not boycotting the channel for this one show, but their actions overall….Not investing my time and attention in another show on this channel…I would love to see BBC America expand their SCFI lineup…
Yes and it’s all fake crap
That was one of the better written articles I have seen in some time, my only question is, why is this not in a petition type of article so that we may sign it.
Science fiction is to SyFy channel, as music videos are to MTV. This world is going bonkers. Science fiction content is going to be a serious non-factor with no viable entity soon. SyFy is totally losing any credibility they have left. Shoot their programming is so wacky they just began airing Starblazers on thursday nights. Don’t get me wrong, I grew up watching and loving Starblazers and it’s a mad classic (FIRE WAVE MOTION GUN!!) but what current generation viewer is gonna give it the time of day or any respect with its extremely dated visuals? Stop the crazyness and… Read more »
I have also forwarded this letter to [email protected]
Anyone who agrees with it should. 1000 people saying the same thing, will ensure someone up the chain reads it.
Well with comcast running NBC now there may be some big changes in the works.
I can see G4 and SYFY becoming one channel.
versus is going to be renamed and may become show some of the stuff on the universal sports channel (right it’s a sub channel but there are roomers of it going HD but It can’t as a sub channel)
so the new g4 can become versus 2 and pick alot of the hunting, bull riding , WWE, ninja warrior type shows.
chiller can become syfy 2 or syfy movie channel.
Forgot to mention that Darren is 100% with his views on this one. Well said sir!
a very good read indeed.
don’t worry.
SYFY or scifi or however they call themselves now will die with Stargate and Sanctuary.
they killed off one of the best shows of the moment.
and the shows are taking syfy with em.
Well said. thank you for this. I’ve been saying similar things while watching SGU. To end a 17 year (to my count) franchise the way SyFy did. Is in my personal opinion, an absolute slap to the face of SG fans… Just saying.
@Syfy (VP Craig Engler) tweeted the following to Gateworld today: @GateWorld Staff I think the real issue is that running on Fri, straight through, 1/3 of the audience who tried by ep 3 left by ep 6. @GateWorld Staff Typo…by 7. Then we saw a promising recovery in 8/9, then a big drop at 10, then another small recovery after hiatus for 11/12 @GateWorld Staff Hard to say. By that point I think everyone who was going to sample the show had watched & made up their minds. @GateWorld Staff It’s frustrating because the audience grew from 1-3…not a lot,… Read more »